One could argue that digital watches are one of the densest demonstrations of technology the average person encounters on a daily basis. Chronometer, stopwatch, usb drive, calculator, heart rate monitor, Palm pilot, ipod remote. I've seen all that strapped onto someone's wrist at one time or another. Most of that can be had under $100. The interface is more intuitive than an analog watch, also. But when I Google "watches" and browse through the hits, I have to go to the ninth hit to find a digital watch on a landing page, and that's timex, which is pushing their specialized "Ironman" brand for athletes.
Last night, I saw Richard Russo speak, and there was the inevitable Kindle question. When he said he still wanted his books in traditional form, there was a round of applause like this was some bold stand.
Book readers want books. They want them on their shelves, they want them in their hands, they want to smell them. They will pay more for them.
It will be a long, long time before you can't buy the book you want on paper. The digital watch is 35 years old, and even Casio's homepage features 2 analog watches out of 3 featured.

This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

I got tagged on Facebook for a list of 15 unforgettable reads. I started to post there, but there wasn't space for my useless comments--so here they are in all their glory. (Not in any order.)

• Dune—Frank Herbert (This was my bible in high school)
• Love in the Time of Cholera —Gabriel Garcia Marquez (ah, Fermina Daza)
• A Princess of Mars—Edgar Rice Burroughs ( I await the movie with dread and hope equally)
• Loop’s Progress—Chuck Rosenthal (The funniest book I have ever read—aside from its sequel)
• The Habit of Being—Flannery O’Connor (ed. Sally Fitzgerald) (Would you like to know how a great writer thinks?—here you go.)
• The Hobbit-JRR Tolkien
• Watchmen—Alan Moore and some other guys ("Why would I be interested in finding Raw Shark?")
• Robert Christgau’s Record Guide(1983 Editon)—Rober Christgau (Trivia quiz: Who got this four word review “Speak for yourself, Ferdinand”)
• Life of Greece—Will Durant (I read the first seven books in this series, but read the second one first. Suddenly I loved history.)
• Cat’s Cradle—Kurt Vonnegut [Ice, Ice (nine) baby]
• The Outsiders—SE Hinton (Stay Golden, Ponyboy)
• Cold Mountain—Charles Frazier (More than any other, this book made me understand the beauty of restraint in language)
• Blink—Malcolm Gladwell (In the end, his real gift is telling you how smart people think. I read Blink before I read tipping point.)
• Bread Alone--Daniel Leaderer (I learned how to bake bread and how to use a kitchen)
• Green Eggs and Ham—Dr. Seuss (Its exploration of nihilism and despair scarred me forever.)
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